POLAR makes it easy to manage your reading.
PDF support
We have first-class PDF support thanks to PDF.js. PDFs work well when reading content in book format or when reading scientific research which is often stored as PDF.
Captured Web Pages
Download HTML content and save them as offline documents which can be annotated. Captured pages are rendered for greater readability using CSS browser emulation.
Pagemarks
Easily keep track of what you're reading and the progress of each document. Pagemarks enable a form of non-linear reading named incremental reading and the ability to suspend and resume individual documents for later consumption.
Offline-first
All content is stored locally which means you can use Polar while offline. Polar cloud sync allows you to use Polar with other computers as well. And our webapp allows you to access your data anywhere.
Hackable
The entire system is based on Electron, Node, pdf.js, React and other web standards. If you're a developer - welcome home!
Standards Based
All content is stored as JSON in a well documented schema. Annotations never change the original content which keeps your document repository safe.
All Your Documents in One Place
All your PDFs, eBooks, and web content are kept in one place - the Document Repository. Once you're done reading a document it can be archived and is hidden by default but can be referenced at any time.
Manage your Reading Queue with Incremental Reading
Your queue can be managed by both flags and tags. The document repository shows the progress of each document and you can filter by tags to narrow down what you want to read next.
Desktop, Web, and Fully Cloud Aware
Polar is fully cross-platform and supported on MacOS, Windows, Linux, Chrome, Firefox, and Safari.
Polar is also fully cloud-aware and supports synchronizing your documents across multiple devices. Based on Google's Firebase, Polar supports real-time synchronization of your documents to other devices.
But we don't stop there. Polar also supports the web so you can access your data anywhere.
Highlight and Annotate
Annotations are a central feature to Polar. While reading documents you can underline text or create area highlights. Once created, you can attach additional metadata to annotations such as comments and flashcards.
Captured (and Offline) Web Content
Polar supports reading and annotating HTML documents. We call this process 'capturing' content and we store the document permanently in your own private archive.
Since most pages aren't designed for reading and have ads, chrome, and other annoyances within the page, we render the content as a tablet device to make the content more readable.
Browser emulation
Emulate multiple browsers and mobile content to make sure pages captured are rendered properly.
Personal Archive
All content is stored in a personal archive which allows you to refer back to important documents and view annotations over time.
Integrated Annotations Sidebar
All annotations are easily accessible in the sidebar. You can create flashcards, add comments, and jump to any text highlight in the main document at any time.
